Present - Andy Ambler (Club Chief Executive), Ray James (Club Head Of Commercial And Marketing), Bob Asprey (MSC Chairman), Mark Holland, Chris Rudd, Jason Roseman, George Lampey and Graeme Smale (all MSC).

Season Tickets and Memberships

4,489 season tickets have been sold to date, an improvement over last season (4,289 excluding half season tickets). 2,874 memberships have been sold, compared with 3,350 by the end of last season. 887 Junior Lions memberships have been sold, compared with 462 last season.

Andy and Ray expressed satisfaction with these figures. The club is focused on recruiting junior members and it is hoped the new 'family club' in the West Lower will help this drive. The Junior Lions have strengthened their committee including Pru Buckley from the club. In the wider quest for more new fans, Ray has secured a relationship with the Mercury which will feature a Millwall 'wrap around' feature encouraging attendance at games. He also has a forthcoming similar arrangement with the News Shopper, and is talking to the Kent Messenger. Kent is a key area for attracting new and lapsed fans to The Den. Other tie-ins with Dartford FC are possible.

The MSC were critical of the way the mail-outs were conducted. Once again, although all Season Ticket holders did receive their tickets prior to the first match, they were distributed at the last minute, and there were no messages of thanks from the Chairman or The Manager, and nothing from the MSC at all despite Bob submitting a piece for possible inclusion. Andy argued that the new ticket system had had its teething problems largely sorted and a huge amount of staff time and resource had been taken up with the new installation. Nevertheless the club took the criticism on board.

Security

Ken Chapman (Club Head of Security) joined the meeting. He stated that the club were reported by officials on 12 occasions last season, the largest number in the league by far, and 2 of these are not yet dealt with by the FA, Hull City away and Leicester City at home, which involved 6 missile throwing incidents. Being reported by officials is always harmful to our club and a campaign explaining this is being prepared by the club for the new season. This campaign will concentrate on the major issues namely missile throwing, pitch encroachment, and racism. There will be posters around the stadium and in matchday programmes. It must be clarified to fans that the pitch surround is classed as the pitch and so incursions on to this area to celebrate a goal is the same offence. The second intruder who ran on to the pitch and confronted the Leeds goalkeeper has now received a 3 year Police banning order.

Catering

The meeting was joined by the Stadium Manager and Area Manager from Lindley Catering. The caterers stated they operate the catering at more than 50 football grounds throughout the country, plus cricket and rugby venues.

The company is very keen to provide customer satisfaction as their profits depend upon it. Millwall has one of the highest spends per head in the country. The pricing at Millwall is in their lower price banding. Despite this, MSC reported that matchday catering continues to generate the highest number of fans' complaints, particularly regarding poor quality, poor service, high prices and unimaginative menus.

Catering prices will always carry a premium at stadium events, as there are only 52 hours per year to operate a profitable business and the temporary and fragmented nature of the operation brings many additional costs.

The new season's price list was provided which revealed that beer, cider and lager have increased by 30 pence from last season to £3.50 per bottle. This increase was met with great displeasure and the caterers and the club were warned that will be highly unpopular with the fans, given the current low inflation and economic conditions. The caterers explained that the price of beer had increased, the duty had increased, and that the £3.50 price will be for the whole season and will not increase, for instance, when the VAT Rate returns to 17.5% at the turn of the year.

The caterers were questioned about why they had run out of non-perishable goods such as Bovril and tea at the colder night games. It was admitted that this had been due to a lack of communication between the kiosk staff and the stadium catering manager. Ample non-perishable goods are always kept on site and it is up to each kiosk manager to ensure they maintain adequate stocks in their kiosk. The caterers believe that this problem is very unlikely to re-occur.

MSC raised the issue of insufficient numbers of kiosks being open and resultant queues. Lindleys explained that there must be a business case to open a kiosk. The beer only kiosk had been opened next to the main kiosk in the West Upper but this had not been particularly successful. MSC responded saying that this kiosk had been woefully inadequately signed, and the trial had not lasted long enough for fans to recognise the change and alter their behaviour.

The new 'family club' will have a children's food kiosk and a beer counter for parents. MSC raised the issue of the quality of the staff employed, and the caterers responded that recruitment is an ongoing challenge but only staff who had an adequate understanding of English are employed, and they are all fully trained.

Stadium PA System

Andy admitted that the new PA system was not correctly adjusted or operated correctly for the Middlesbrough game but it was put down to teething problems.

The installers are returning next Monday to ensure it is all in order for the Bournemouth Carling Cup match.

The Lions Centre on Matchdays

It is still hoped that it will be possible to establish matchday activity in the Lions Centre for kids and their parents. Hopefully the new Junior Lions Committee and Millwall Community Scheme will be able to make it happen, despite the issues with the lease and the licensing which will have to be overcome.

Naming The East Stand

This initiative is currently stalled whilst the club tries to establish a tie up with the Port Of London Authority, to ascertain whether that body wants to become involved with stand sponsorship at Millwall.

New Shirts

The new home shirt was in the club shop by the beginning of July, and indeed limited numbers had been available prior to the Play-Off Final. The new red and black away shirt is scheduled to be worn by the team at Southend United, and the club hope to have it in the shop by then.

It is intended that the fans will be fully consulted on the design of the 125th anniversary shirt next season.

Credit Card and Postage Charges

It was noted that currently no charges are being made for credit card transactions at the ticket office or for postage on online sales. This is to encourage online sales but may be reviewed in future.